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Events & Issues
New
Delhi, 18 August 2014
Leader Of Opposition
POSITIVE ROLE, NOT NEGATIVE
By Dr S Saraswathi
(Former Director, ICSSR, New
Delhi)
The unopposed election of AIADMK
member M Thambidurai as Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha is yet another snub to
the Congress, which has been staking claim to the post of the Leader of
Opposition (LoP) on grounds of being the largest Opposition party. Earlier, its
hopes were dashed with the Supreme Court dismissing a Public Interest
Litigation (PIL) seeking the status of LoP be granted to the Congress.
The apex court reasoned that it
cannot decide on political issues brought as a PIL and had no jurisdiction to
review a ruling given by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan that the Congress
doesn’t have the requisite numbers to make a claim.
Interestingly, the post of LoP is
nowhere mentioned in the Constitution. It was created by a ruling of the first
Speaker GV Mavlankar, who set the essential rules for parliamentary
proceedings. He stated that to hold the
proceedings of the House, a minimum of 10% members of the total strength should
be present and that should also be the strength of the main Opposition party to
be recognized as principal Opposition party and its leader as LoP. The Congress
with 44 members is the largest Opposition party, followed by AIADMK (37
members), but is 11 short of the minimum number required.
However, the Salaries and Allowances
of the LoP fixed in 1997 and 2003 define the post as one given to the largest Opposition
party in the two Houses. There is no mention about the minimum number of
members required for recognition under the law. The claim of the Congress for
the post of LoP has the support of this law.
The law also provides certain
facilities for recognized groups and parties like secretarial office,
telephone, etc. It has been the practice to give the LoP in the Lok Sabha the
rank of a Cabinet Minister. Further, in the seating arrangement in the House,
the LoP is given a seat in the front row, left to the Chair and next to the
Deputy Speaker. The LoP is also given ceremonial honour and escorts the newly
elected Speaker to take the chair.
The LoP serves on several important
committees including selection panels for Central Vigilance Commissioner, CBI
Director, members of the Lok Pal, chairman and members of the National Human
Rights Commission.
Ensuring the strength of the Opposition
party and granting the status of LoP is the responsibility of the Speaker. Going
by precedent, the Speaker had decided that the present 16th Lok
Sabha would not have the post of the LoP. Since prevailing practice mentions
only the party with minimum of 10% membership, the question of recognizing the
convener of the pre-poll alliance UPA for the post was too ruled out.
One need not be shocked at the
Speaker’s decision. In the past, Parliament had worked many times without a LoP
for many years at a stretch. The first recognized LoP in the Lok Sabha was Ram
Subhag Singh in 1969 when the Congress split. He belonged to the group known as
Congress (O) opposed to Indira Gandhi. The entire period of Jawaharlal Nehru
went without any recognized LoP in either House. Again between 1980 and 1988, when
the Congress was in power with large majority, Lok Sabha functioned without a
LoP.
This background story makes it clear
that the largest Opposition party can claim the post of LoP, but has no right
over it in the absence of recognition by the Speaker. Conventions also support
number requirement as Telugu Desam Party – the largest Opposition party in 1984
when the Congress under Rajiv Gandhi swept the polls - was denied the position and recognition.
In many Commonwealth countries, the
leader of the largest Opposition party in Parliament gets the LoP post, which has
a unique significance as chief of the “Shadow Cabinet”. This has unfortunately not
been developed in India.
Shadow Cabinet is an interesting
feature of the British parliamentary system and has been adopted in many
Commonwealth countries. It is composed of senior group of Opposition
spokespeople who form an alternative Cabinet under the LoP. The members are
normally chosen by the leader. The practice of electing Shadow Cabinet members is
in vogue in the Australian Labour Party.
These members “shadow” or “mark”
each individual member of the real Cabinet in power. It is the responsibility of the Shadow Cabinet
to critically examine every policy and action of the government and also offer
alternatives. Its function is thus a kind of constructive criticism with
readiness to provide feasible solutions where it finds government policies
defective and keep itself ready to assume office when opportunity arises.
For effective functioning, the LoP
distributes portfolios among members of the Shadow Cabinet who will concentrate
on and closely monitor concerned Cabinet Minister and be ready with programmes.
In some countries, these members are also called “Shadow Ministers”.
In the UK
and New Zealand,
the term “spokesperson” is more common than Shadow Cabinet. In Canada, “Opposition critic” is the
term. Whatever label is applied, they are all members of “His Majesty’s Loyal
Opposition”. In France,
akin to Shadow Cabinet is the “Contre-Government (Counter-government) nicknamed
by the media as “Cabinet Fantome (meaning “ghost Cabinet”).
In some countries, Parliamentary
fronts of groups of small parties are also formed. But, to claim the right to
speak, parties require the prescribed number of their representatives in Parliament.
Technical groups, teams of experts,
and boards of advisors are formed in some countries such as Ireland and Germany. These groups may increase
the number of speakers in the House against the bigger parties.
In the US, where the two-party system is
well-established, the second largest party is also the Opposition party. Its
leader, recognized as the Minority Leader holds the position of the LoP. An
interesting form of Opposition party that has emerged here is known as ‘Green
Shadow Cabinet’. It includes prominent scientists, community and labour
leaders, social workers, senior citizens and others who follow government
policies and programmes closely and offer alternatives, wherever they consider
necessary. This grouping is not political.
In India, there is no Shadow Cabinet
at the Centre. But, the idea is not unknown. Some parties have tried to form such
Cabinets in State Assemblies. The first experiment was made in Maharashtra in 2005 when the BJP and Shiv Sena joined to
form a Shadow Cabinet to keep the ruling Congress in check. In 2013, BJP leader
in the Delhi Assembly mooted the idea of appointing “Shadow Ministers” to keep
track of AAP ministers. The idea appealed to the Congress opposition in Madhya
Pradesh this year.
Indeed, the LoP or the Shadow
Cabinet must be engaged in responsible and constructive political work. With Parliament
increasingly becoming noisy and unruly, a genuine doubt arises over the role
that any Opposition may display. The job of the LoP is certainly not to collect
his flock, organize, and preside over physical demonstration of opposition in Parliament.
Nor is it meant to spy upon those in power or to merely earn the privileges
attached to it.
His/her job is as important as that
of the Leader of the government. It’s a positive role and not negative. A
substantial change in the understanding of their role and responsibilities
among a number of Parliamentarians is all the more required. Perhaps then the
country would be spared of foul politics. --- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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